Chapter 26

Unspeakable rage seared through Regina's veins as she squeezed the walkie-talkie in her firm grip. She had been duped; robbed; humiliated. Someone, or a group of someones, had somehow managed to bypass all of her multi-million dollar security measures and not only get into her fortified vault, but out of it as well, with ALL of her money.

One hundred and twenty four million dollars; gone.

How did they do it?

How could someone have created an exact duplicate of her vault? The blueprints and schematics were not available to the public.

How could someone have hacked into her failsafe systems? They would have had to infiltrate her top-of-the-line computer mainframe and get past her impregnable firewalls. It was absolutely impossible.

Her insurance would eventually cover it but it would hurt her, possibly irreparably. Not only would it become more difficult and expensive to get insurance in the future, but receiving compensation for $124 million would take time.

And time was something she could not afford.

She was extremely wealthy, it was true. But she had debts; un-ignorable debts!

In order to succeed in the business world she had needed to take risks. She had palms to grease, kickbacks to pay, people to bribe.

The bribe to get the HBO boxing match had been considerable; more than she could really afford, but at the time it had seemed worth it. Now, she wasn't so sure.

Now she would have a new fight on her hands. She might very well be muscled out of her own business, to be replaced by seedy loan sharks.

She had needed large events to come to her small seaside town, to her casino, in order to earn the respect she so desperately craved among her peers.

It seemed no matter what she did, no matter how hard she worked, she would never live up to everyone's expectations. Her mother, Cora, was the most critical person on the face of the earth; nothing could ever please her.

Regina had paid her own way through Yale with her modeling and had graduated third in her class. Her mother had said it would have been a more impressive feat at Harvard.

She had worked tirelessly to become the top spokesperson for Fairest Inc. and became a household name. Her mother had shrugged and said her looks wouldn't last forever.

She had disposed of her idiot step-daughter, had her useless husband, Leo, killed and took control of his multi-million dollar empire. Cora had rolled her eyes and said that it was only a cosmetics company.

So she had taken a gamble and created the most profitable Casino on the East Coast. And now she would lose it. She could only imagine what her mother would say about that!

There had only been one person on the face of this god-forsaken earth who had ever believed in her. Only one person had ever seen her for what she really was deep down.

And that person was dead. All thanks to one man.

"Gaston?" she cried shakily into the walkie-talkie. "Meet me in the Dark Room. Now!"

"Yes, Regina," he replied promptly. "I'm on my way."

Regina marched out of the ruined vault and into the elevator. She used her fist to punch the up button repeatedly. She couldn't get upstairs fast enough. The instant the doors slid open she was through and stalking down the empty halls. Her whimsical painted walls did nothing to alleviate her dark mood.

She turned down the hall where two of her brawny agents, Tweedledee and Tweedledum (she had never bothered to learn their real names) were standing guard, talking quietly with Gaston. They were suddenly more alert as their boss appeared before them. They straightened their posture and fell into step behind her. Together they marched down the brightly lit hall until finally stopping in front of a heavy door with a frosted glass window.

She readjusted her dress and diamond, rolled her shoulders and nodded to Gaston.

"Open it," he ordered.

The door opened widely just as her giant of an enforcer, Tiny, punched Gold hard in the stomach.

Perspiration beaded heavily on his forehead. His ragged breathing caused his limp hair to bounce around and stick onto his sweaty face. He coughed and sputtered from the hard blow as he stood bent over, clutching his injured abdomen.

Daniel Gold was usually so impeccably dressed it was almost humorous to see him in such a state.

His suit jacket was half falling off of his small frame. A couple of buttons were undone and his dress shirt was no longer tucked in. A silk tie lay around his neck, unknotted, and he had obviously just spent a considerable amount of time on the floor, because his expensive black slacks were now gray from dust.

The golden cane lay abandoned against the far wall.

"Pick him up," ordered Gaston maliciously.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum each wrapped a muscular arm under his thin ones and hoisted him up. She smiled as she watched him favor his good leg, unable to support any weight on the other.

Tiny had obviously enjoyed his work this evening.

Gold panted heavily and removed a silk handkerchief from his jacket pocket and wiped his forehead.

"Hello, dearie," he said smarmily. "How's the other fight going?"

She approached him carefully and dug a manicured fingernail into the soft flesh below his chin, drawing blood. "Did you have a hand in this?" she asked dangerously.

Gold twitched out of her grip and leaned forward to catch his breath. "Did I have my hand in what?" he growled.

Regina huffed and rolled her eyes incredulously. "I'm going to ask you one more time. Did you have a hand in this?"

Gold limped painfully to the overturned table and leaned on it precariously. When he finally looked up at her, his eyes were cold and empty. "Regina, I have no idea what the bloody hell you are talking about. I've been locked up in this little cell here while your goon's fists have become intimately familiar with my face and other body parts." He massaged his jaw and sneered. "I have half a mind to sue you for this mistreatment."

"We can verify, ma'am, that this man never left the room," said Tweedledee.

"We were in the hallway the entire time," added Tweedledum. "There's no way he could have gotten past us."

Gaston growled low in his throat. He lowered his head to whisper into Regina's ear. "It's true. I checked the hall's security footage myself. He was in here with Tiny during the…incident."

Regina looked to Tiny for confirmation. The large man simply bobbed his shaggy head up and down and looked down to study his shoes.

"Did he have a cell phone on him?" she demanded. If he was truly behind all this then he would have a way to communicate with his accomplices.

"No, ma'am," said one of her goons. He dug into his jacket pocket and withdrew an old, worn leather wallet. In its prime it would have been expensive, but was now faded and torn. "We searched him thoroughly when we brought him in here. All he had was this wallet with an expired Massachusetts's driver's license and about twenty dollars in small bills."

"Twenty-two dollars," replied Gold harshly. "And it had best all be there when I get it back!"

Gaston snorted behind her. "How pathetic! He's broke!"

"I don't buy it," Regina declared. No, something smelled fishy here. "This whole I'm-a-pitiful-destitute charade you're trying to pull on me. I don't believe it. That suit must have cost you plenty."

Gold held his head up high and straightened his disheveled clothing. "I'm surprised at you Regina! You're usually very observant when it comes to other people's attires. Don't you recognize this suit? It's the same one you saw me wearing when the judge announced my sentence. You remember the trial, don't you? You bribed everyone you could to prolong it so that I would lose everything to lawyer fees." He grabbed the threadbare wallet from the agent's chubby hands and counted the meager bills inside. "This was all I had left when I got out of prison last month."

"What about Baelfire?" she asked mockingly. "You mean to tell me he wasn't there for his precious Papa?"

Gold winced at the mention of his son and hung his head dejectedly. "I don't know where he is," he confessed quietly. "I was hoping Belle could tell me but he never divulged that information to her. I've lost everything now, dearie. It seems you finally got your misguided revenge at last."

A sly grin slowly spread across Regina's face. "Well, at least something good has come out of today then. You're right, Gaston. He is too pathetic to have pulled off something this big. I want this bastard out of my hotel. Now."

~8~8~8~

Belle sat curled around a golden decorative throw pillow on the couch, her precious chipped tea cup cradled protectively in her hands. She had been waiting impatiently for more than twenty minutes now.

Where was he? What was happening? What was going on in the vault? Was Bae safe?

Her overactive imagination was drowning in possible scenarios; each one more ghastly than the last. She fleetingly felt a trickle of guilt for her friend Regina. After all, her family was robbing her best friend blind right now and she wasn't doing a thing to stop them.

But while she may owe Regina everything, she would never, ever betray her family.

A flicker of light caught her eye and she turned her attention back to the television. Gone was the persistent blue screen to be replaced by a black and white image of a long hallway. From the quality of the picture and the angle from which it was displayed, she could tell that it was from a security camera.

She immediately recognized the hallway as being one of the many corridors in Regina's high level cages.

Someone, no surprise at who, had somehow hacked into the casino's impenetrable firewalls and was redirecting the feed to her bedroom. If she wasn't so worried she would have been mildly impressed.

She dropped to her knees on the carpeted floor and stared at the screen in dismay. Two big, burly men each had an arm wrapped around her disheveled looking ex-husband and were physically dragging him down the hall. She could only imagine how that must be paining his leg.

Regina and Gaston were next to emerge from the room, both smirking in satisfaction as they watched Daniel Gold being manhandled so roughly.

"What's the matter, dearie?" Gold called back over his shoulder. "Did you get robbed?"

"STOP!" she cried. She quickly marched to his side, her once pleased expression turning sour. "You know something. What is it?"

"Not a thing, dearie. But I'm flattered that you think so highly of me. After all, you did just call me pathetic."

"If you really had nothing to do with any of this then why did you come here?" demanded Gaston.

"You're a smart man, Mr. Gold," Regina said calmly as she smoothed down his wrinkled collar. Suddenly her fingers were wrapped around his throat, slowly squeezing off his air supply. "Surely you must have known I would never allow you to leave my property unharmed. Now tell me. Why are you here?"

"You know why," he gasped. She relieved the pressure from his larynx so that he could speak. "There is only one force strong enough on this planet that could drag me anywhere near you, dearie."

"Revenge?"

"No." Gold shook his head pityingly. "True Love. I've come for my wife."

Gaston's loud bark of laughter echoed across the corridor, sending chills up Belle's spine. "No woman is worth getting your ass beaten by Tiny for close to an hour! Especially not your annoying prude of an ex-wife!"

His hurtful words flew through the TV's speakers, knocking Belle to the floor as though she had been physically slapped.

"How dare you!" snarled Danny. The two goons tightened their grips on his arms as he lunged forward. "What kind of a man stands there and insults the woman he claims to love? You of all people should be defending her!"

"I don't give a damn about her," he gleefully exclaimed. "I never have! The only reason I put up with that boring goody-two-shoes is because Regina makes it worth my while."

Regina smiled wickedly at her old nemesis. "Don't you see, Danny? It wasn't enough to see you broke. I need to see you broken! If I couldn't be with my True Love than neither could you! I have poisoned her against you, against herself! She is no longer the woman you hopelessly fell in love with. She's gone forever, thanks to me. And you no longer have anything to offer her. Try getting her to take you back now."

"You heartless bitch!" spat Gold. "What did you do to her?"

"I made her forget who she was," announced Regina proudly. "I broke her and rebuilt her to suit my needs. I destroyed any evidence of her loved ones trying to get in contact with her. I made it look as though even your bastard son had abandoned her! I had her spirit squashed so that I could be the one to pick her back up. For the first time in my life, I got to play the hero instead of the villain. I have her wrapped so tightly around my finger that she's too afraid to let go of me. Because she knows without me holding her up she is nothing!"

"I'm afraid you've underestimated my Belle," said Danny. "She may be bent, but she's not broken. She will see through one day. Maybe sooner than you think."

"We shall see." Regina took a walkie-talkie from Gaston's hand and raised it to her mouth. "Sydney? Contact the police. Please inform them we have an ex-con trespassing on the property. I'm sure he is in violation of his parole."

Daniel Gold simply smirked and made no effort to fight as they continued to drag him away. However, right before they disappeared off the screen, he looked straight up into the camera and nodded.

Danny had set all this up, put himself in jeopardy, allowed himself to be physically assaulted, just to show her the truth!

Regina wasn't her friend; had never been her friend. She was merely a pawn in a never ending game of chess.

For the first time in years, she felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She felt taller, stronger.

She was through with being Regina's punching bag. She was through with Regina period!

Belle quickly went to her closet and grabbed a comfortable pair of flats and her long beige jacket. After carefully placing her chipped cup into her purse, she took one last look around the room she had called home for the last year and quietly slipped out.

The elevator ride to the lobby seemed to take an eternity as she watched the number of floors click down to nothing. When the bell finally chimed she wasted no time in bolting through the sliding doors.

Only to collide directly into Regina.

"Belle!" Regina's frown quickly steeled itself into a grin that did not reach her eyes. "I'm so glad to see you! I'm sorry if I snapped at you earlier. I was under a lot of stress. Why don't we go get a drink and I can tell you all about the dreadful robbery now? Did you hear they set off a bomb?"

Belle rolled her shoulders back, raised her head high and simply walked past her former friend. She wasn't worthy of a response.

"Belle?" asked Regina, sounding confused. "Belle! I'm talking to you!"

She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around to face her warden of the last couple of years. "You of all people should know, Regina. In your Casino? There is always someone watching."

And without another word, she marched through the hotel's doors and out into the cool Atlantic breeze. The air held the distinctive flavor of fresh summer rain and freedom.

It was glorious!

~8~8~8~

Daniel Gold winced painfully as the two goons dragged him down the hall and out the side door to await the police; the real police, unfortunately.

He briefly wondered how long it would take Regina to realize that there was no S.W.A.T. team in a town as small as Storybrooke. Probably not until her insurance company informed her that there had been no actual police investigation into the robbery.

Oh, how he would love to be there when she got the news!

But unfortunately, he would be back behind bars by then. Ah, well. It was a necessary evil.

And absolutely worth it if Belle had watched the security footage.

He knew he had irrevocably damaged their relationship and couldn't blame her if she wanted nothing to do with him ever again, but at least she would be free to make that decision for herself now.

He didn't care what happened to him; she was all that mattered. She deserved so much better than what she had been dealt in this life, all because of her association with him.

She was free now. Free to be whoever she wanted to be; to finally decide her own fate.

Bae would see to it that she was taken care of financially. She could start a new life for herself, as far away from Storybrooke as ten million dollars would take her.

His hopeful thoughts were interrupted by the sudden arrival of a police cruiser pulling up to the curb. Regina's minions finally released their death grips on his arms and he rubbed at the painful bruises they left behind. He decided to take advantage of his new limited freedom by tucking in his dress shirt and readjusting his suit jacket. His tie was long gone, as was his favorite cane.

His bad leg had slowed him down in the vents more than he had thought possible tonight, barely making it back to the Dark Room in time. Fortunately, Regina's heels were a loud enough warning to hear coming down the hall. Unfortunately, he had only managed to get one arm into his jacket sleeve when Tiny was forced to punch him in the stomach.

Luckily for him though, the friendly giant had softened the blow somewhat so that he wouldn't be pissing too much blood tonight.

"What seems to be the trouble gentlemen?" asked the greasy haired Sheriff as he emerged from his car.

"This man is in violation of his parole," responded one of the goons. "Drinking, gambling, trespassing…"

"All right. We'll take it from here," said the deputy.

Tweedledee and Tweedeldum returned inside as the sheriff removed a pair of handcuffs from his belt and proceeded to lock Gold's wrists behind his back. "We need to take you down to the station, sir. I suggest you call your parole officer when we get there."

"WAIT!" cried a voice in the distance.

The sheriff place his hand on Gold's head and pressed down, encouraging him to get into the back of the car.

"Please wait!" shouted the voice again.

Could it be?

"Just a second, Sheriff," said the deputy. "Someone's coming."

Gold stretched his neck to see above the officer's shoulder. A shadowy figure was waving an arm erratically in an attempt to catch their attention. The lights from a passing car shone brightly across the Casino's windowless walls and reflected off of a sparkly gold dress.

"Wait! That's my husband!" Belle called out. "That's my husband!"

A smile of disbelief cracked Mr. Gold's usually stoic features as a mop of chestnut curls swept over his face. Her arms lovingly wrapped around his neck while his were still uselessly bound behind him. He ached to hold her, to feel the warmth of her body that he had been missing for the last couple of years.

He lowered his neck to lean his forehead against hers but she had other plans. She pressed her trembling lips against his while running her hands through his windswept hair. His cheeks suddenly became moist, from her tears, his, or a combination of both, he didn't know which.

He couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't believe. His mind was numb from being so close to her after years apart.

Belle, his Belle, had returned to him.

"Danny," she whispered.

"Belle," he replied, between kisses. "I told you. I knew what I was doing."

"I didn't," she said miserably. "I'm so sorry for ever doubting you. I can't believe that you did all this…just for me."

"Oh, sweetheart. I needed for you to see the truth with your own eyes. That was the only way you could truly be free."

Someone loudly cleared their throat to Gold's left, interrupting their little reunion. "Time to go, buddy. Say goodbye to your lady friend."

"Excuse me, but I'm his wife!" Belle exclaimed, tightening her grip around Gold's waist. She turned back to her husband and asked softly, "How long will you be?"

"For a parole violation? About three months, love."

"Three months it is then," she said, smiling through the tears.

The sheriff pushed his head into the vehicle and Gold was forced to take his seat. "Bae will be in touch, sweetheart," he called through the glass window. "You're not alone anymore."

The cruiser slowly pulled away from the curb and away from Belle. He kept his forehead pressed up against the cool glass until she disappeared from view, waving goodbye.

He sat back in his chair and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

He had done it.

No, he corrected himself. They had done it.

A/N – Don't worry! That's not the end! Next Chapter - Epilogue